Psychic Swindler Sentenced to Nearly Eight Years in Federal Prison

Rachel Lee used to live in a nearly-million dollar house in Portland’s west hills. Now she’s destined for an even bigger house. 

While working as a psychic, Rachel Lee conned a lonely tree-farm heir out an estimated $15.5 million. She was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland to 100 months—a little more than eight years—in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

In May 2014, WW first shed light on how Rachel Lee ingratiated herself to Ralph Raines Jr., heir to a third-generation Washington County logging company.

Rachel Lee befriended Raines in 2004 and soon after began helping him manage his finances. Two years later, Raines hired Lee to care for his elderly father and bought her a $915,000 home in Northwest Portland.

In 2008, Rachel Lee’s daughter, Porsha Lee, joined the scam by posing as “Mary Marks,” a British citizen in need of a green card. To pull off the ruse, Porsha Lee donned a blond wig, glasses, heavy make-up and an English accent.

Raines told investigators he was in love with “Mary.” And court records show that Porsha Lee, disguised as Mary, was able to convince Raines that they were married and that he was the father of her child via artificial insemination.

In reality, they hadn’t wed, Porsha Lee had spent the duration of her “pregnancy” in California and the baby was actually born to her sister, Samantha Lee.

After the death of Raines’ father in 2011, Rachel Lee convinced Raines to sell the Northwest Portland home for $640,000. She also got him to sell his family’s tree farm for $12.3 million, telling him he needed the money to cover inheritance taxes, according to the indictment.